June will be the month to roll out the pink plastic carts, a unique step in the city’s recycling program.

The pink color is to spur recognition for breast cancer awareness. The recipients are city businesses, numbering 85 as of last count after distribution began Friday.

And while those 85 firms and organizations ordered about 130 of the 35- and 65-gallon carts, city officials are hoping when they hit the streets — and start making a pink statement — their numbers will increase dramatically.

“I really do think once they get their pink carts out, it will quadruple and then some,” said Betsey Westell, the city's recycling program coordinator.

“We hope to have more businesses. Once people see these carts in the streets, I think it will explode,” Community Maintenance Director Kenneth Pacheco said.

DPW crews will pick up the single-stream recycling carts from businesses, which can purchase them at $55 for the smaller size and $70 for the larger version.

The program, slated to begin June 6, is designed to encourage recycling by businesses and and “reduce the carbon footprint” in the city, Mayor Will Flanagan said.

Using single-stream recycling also helps the city improve its fiscal balance sheet for trash and recycling, Pacheco said.

Payments to the city for recycables nearly have nearly quadrupled in recent months, from $4.41 in February to $16.33 in April. Adding large quantities of paper from businesses will give the city that much more to trade in, Pacheco said.

Only recyclables will be picked up from businesses through this program, though roughly 900 businesses — mostly in residential areas — are grandfathered into the trash and recycling pick-up program, according to Pacheco and Westell.

On a drizzly Monday, Westell and Tammy Moutinho of the recycling team were unloading nine of the large pink carts at Citizens-Union Bank across from Government Center.

Three will be used for the headquarters and the others for the bank's satellite branches, said Pauline Goncalves, customer services supervisor.

Westell, wearing a bright pink polo shirt saying, “City of Fall River Recycling Program,” reviewed with Goncalves the single-stream recycling chart of what can and can’t be thrown into the bins.

Citizens-Union has about 100 employees running its various downtown banking programs, and two busy lunchrooms, Goncalves said, so the new program gives the bank a chance to expand its recycling substantially.

The bank can now recycle large amount of paper, rather than shred it, Goncalves said. Food boxes, newspapers, cans and many other items can also be regularly recycled and picked up.

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Of the businesses signing up for the pink program, some were already covered under grandfathering rights but wanted to support the new effort, Westell said.

TwoIndustrial Park companies were among the first to sign on after the mayor’s office mailed out more than 1,000 letters seeking participation, Westell said.

No one business location is receiving more than six large carts, and the city does not have capacity to pick up large amounts that would require a container, Pacheco said.

He said pickups for the businesses, which are scattered across the city, require sending the recycling trucks outside their normal areas. While the entire city uses single-stream recycling — meaning metals, paper, cans and bottles and other recyclables can be combined in a container — the city has only rolled out the cart program to only 25 percent of residences so far, Pacheco said.

Built into the cart sales are contributions for breast cancer prevention.

Rehrig Pacific, which manfactures the carts, is donating $10 for every cart ordered. The city pays $45 for the small carts, for instance, and is selling them for $50 to the business. Under the system, the business and city program each donate $5, a total of $10 for every cart sold, Pacheco said.

The businesses will own their carts, unlike the blue and green carts used for residences that the city owns.

The intention with the pink carts is for the local chapter of the American Cancer Society to receive a bulk donation earmarked for breast cancer awareness. Proceeds will likely be given and announced during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, officials said.

“Take breast cancer to the curb,” is the motto Flanagan said he hopes to impart.

He noted the increased recycling produces revenue and reduces trash brought to landfills. Closed-lid carts also help improve the city’s cleanliness, Flanagan said. “It’s a program with many benefits.”

Pacheco said the city is recycling about 12 to 14 percent of materials the DPW picks up. The short-term goal is to exceed 20 percent and the long-term goal is to double that, he said.

Westell encouraged any business wanting to participate to contact the mayor’s office at 508-324-2600 or her office at 508-324-2580.